Khaled Sabsabi Exhibition “Indefinitely Postponed” in Wake of Venice Biennale Controversy
By Annabel Preston
Portrait of KHALED SABSABI. Photo by and courtesy Anna Kucera.
Just over a month after Khaled Sabsabi was controversially dropped as Australia’s representative for the 2026 Venice Biennale, Monash University has announced its decision to “indefinitely” postpone Sabsabi’s upcoming exhibition at the Monash University Museum of Art (Muma) in Melbourne.
The exhibition, titled “Stolon Press: Flat Earth,” was scheduled to open in May for a duration of 18 months. Organized by Stolon Press—a Sydney-based art and publishing collective with which Sabsabi has been a long-time collaborator—it was set to present Sabsabi’s work alongside that of writer-anthropologist Elisa Taber, foregrounding the “lesser known aspects” of their respective practices.
A spokesperson from the university vaguely cited “a consultation with [their] communities” as the reason for the postponement, identifying a need for Muma to “deepen its collaboration and engagement on this exhibition” and that shelving the event “will allow this important work to be undertaken.” The institution did not provide details about whether the verdict was related to Creative Australia dropping Sabsabi from the Venice Biennale.
Both Stolon Press and Muma have emphasized their disaccord with the university’s decision. In a statement to Monash University on March 26, Stolon Press founders Simryn Gill and Tom Melick wrote: “Stolon Press did not agree to postpone the exhibition. . . . We stand by our contract with Muma, our work and the work of our artists, Elisa Taber and Khaled Sabsabi.” Additionally, they affirmed their intention to “ensure that the exhibition proceeds.”
Since February, the country’s federal arts body Creative Australia has faced intense criticism from both national and international arts communities regarding its decision to remove Sabsabi from the Venice Biennale. Both Sabsabi and his gallerist Josh Milani fear that the reputational damage caused by the fiasco will irrevocably harm the artist’s career. In a letter to Australia’s arts minister Tony Burke, Milani stated that “the decision to repudiate Khaled Sabsabi’s Venice Biennale commission had already set in motion the dismantling of his career and livelihood,” and hence the “cancellation by Monash University is proof that [this] process is underway. It is a direct result of Creative Australia’s abandonment of Khaled Sabsabi as an artist and a human being.”
Annabel Preston is an assistant editor at ArtAsiaPacific.
